Museum, arts center plead for funding from Belton

BELTON - Officials of the Belton Area Museum and the Belton Center for the Arts asked the town council Tuesday night not to cut funding for the two institutions in the 2010-2011 budget.

The museum received $6,500 and the arts center received $9,000 from the town in the current budget but neither is expected to get money from the town for the next fiscal year.

The council heard presentations from Shirah Heller with the Belton Area Museum and Betsy Chapman with the Belton Center for the Arts.

"The museum survives on a week-to-week basis," Heller said.

Heller said the museum had seen a 66 percent increase in membership but grants it receives had decreased and the membership increase didn't pay the light bill.

Heller highlighted some of the museum's accomplishments, saying it received the 2008 Heritage Tourism Award and hosted the Smithsonian "Key Ingredients by America" show and drew a over 1,900 documented visitors to the museum. That number didn't include visitors who came in during the Palmetto Tennis Championships, Standpipe Festival and Bluegrass events, Heller said.

Heller told the council that if the museum lost town funding it might have to cut heritage days and the board would have to decide whether the Depot doors remained opened.

Chapman said the arts center was a major contributor to people coming into Belton.

She said the center opened in March 1999 and had to move into a new building with twice the square footage in 2008 and said it was a public benefit, open to surrounding areas. She said the center didn't hold exclusive events but had become a popular setting for people holding receptions and parties. She said that if the center didn't receive the funding, it would have to close its doors.

After the presentations administrator David Watson said it was his recommendation not to spend any money from the hospitality tax in case the town had to borrow from it cash flow.

"It's necessary to have money available or do a tax-anticipation loan, which I don't recommend," said Watson.

Watson said none of the money would be used to fund the general fund but the town's reserves were seasonal with the town receiving tax money at the first of the year and money from business licenses at the end of the year.

Mayor Rufus Callaham said the town employees, including him and council members, would be taking furloughs to help balance the budget and said that 14 positions had been cut three years ago.

"You can go only as far as the money will allow you to go," said Callaham.

Callaham said the council would look at the money situation as taxes came in and would try to provide funding for the two organizations if the money was there to do it.